WEST CHESTER >> A caretaker for an elderly disabled woman whose careening vehicular journey across northern Chester County ended tragically with the woman’s death has been sentenced to state prison.

Common Pleas Judge Anthony Sarcione on Tuesday accepted a guilty plea and proposed sentence for Ajee Shyrea Clark that calls for her to spend three to eight years behind bars in the state system for the January 2016 death of a Malvern woman for whom she was supposed to be ferrying back and forth.

Clark, who had marijuana in her system at the time of the crash, had been driving recklessly for about two hours, running stop signs and speeding, before she lost control of the van that the woman was a passenger in, ran off the road, and struck a tree. The impact of the crash killed the woman instantly.

The sentence was negotiated by Deputy District Attorney Thomas Ost-Prisco and defense attorney Daniel Bush of the West Chester law firm of Lamb McErlane. Clark, 22, of South Coatesville, who had been free on bail since last March shortly after her arrest, was taken into custody immediately after the plea proceeding to begin serving her prison term.

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Ost-Prisco said Wednesday that a niece of the victim, 85-year-old Loretta Craner, spoke to Sarcione before he imposed the agreed-to sentence about the loss of her beloved aunt. In an emotional address, she spoke of her aunt’s “wonderful” character, and how she did not deserve to die so violently because of Clark’s recklessness. Clark was supposed to be caring for Craner, not putting her life in danger, Kathy Stepp of Phoenixville told the judge.

Clark pleaded guilty to charges of neglect of a care-dependent person, homicide by vehicle, and first offense driving under the influence. She did not plead to the combined charged of homicide by vehicle while DUI, which would have carried with it a minimum mandatory three-year term in addition to the neglect charge. As part of the plea, she is forbidden from working as a caregiver while on parole.

Bush, commenting on the plea, said that she was “glad that the Commonwealth recognized that this accident had nothing to do with marijuana, but that this is a tragic situation borne out of nothing more than my client’s irresponsible driving.”

Of Clark, who said she suffers from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, Bush said, “She’s not a bad person and cared very much for the victim. However, at the time leading up to the accident, she was driving like a careless 21 year old, and it cost Ms. Craner her life, and that is awful.”

Ost-Prisco responded that what happened, “was not an accident.

“The defendant’s criminal actions on Jan. 10, 2016 put into motion a series of events which was completely foreseeable,” he said on Wednesday. “She chose to smoke marijuana, she chose to drive recklessly, and she chose to ignore her duty of care to Loretta. We understand that she did not intend to hurt Loretta, but her death was a direct result of the choices the defendant made that day.”

According to court documents and an arrest affidavit by East Pikeland Officer Patrick Ehmann, the accident occurred some two hours after Clark began her shift as an aide with Kelsch Associates of Exton, which operates group homes for men and women with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Craner was a longtime client of the agency. The crash she was charged with occurred around 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 10 on Pickering Road in East Pikeland.

Ehmann said that the 2015 Dodge van that Clark was operating had been traveling on Pickering Road when Clark lost control and the van left the road and struck a tree. Craner was in the rear seat of the van, seatbelted in, and had suffered a severe cut to her neck. There was severe damage to the front of the van, and Clark, the driver, was crying when the officer arrived.

In speaking to Ehmann, Clark said that she had been driving west on Pickering Road when a deer ran out in front of the van. She said she veered to avoid the animal, but ran off the road before striking the tree. She was able to get out of the van and check on Craner’s condition, but found her unconscious. She unbuckled Craner, whose body then slumped down in the seat, Clark told the officer. She called 911.

She was later taken to Paoli Hospital for an examination, including drawing a blood sample.

Ehmann was assisted at the scene by West Pikeland officers and state police, as well as Westtown-East Goshen Officer Ted Lewis, a member of the county’s Serious Crash Assistance Team. They were able to find video taken from a camera mounted on the dashboard that simultaneously recorded the view of the interior of the van — including the driver and passenger compartment — as well as the view from the windshield.

The video showed Clark getting in the van about 2 p.m. Upon entering, she adjusted the rearview mirror to deliberately obstruct the camera’s view of her, the criminal complaint states. She also turned on the car radio and played it at loud volume.

Clark drove back and forth between group homes operated by Kelsch in East Pikeland, picking up and dropping off clients. During her travels, Ehmann said, she committed numerous traffic violations, including running stop signs and speeding. On her final stop, she left a Kelsch home on Merlin Road and turned onto Pickering, both times failing to stop at a posted stop sign. She was traveling faster than the 35 miles per hour speed limit on Pickering, a winding residential street, when the crash occurred.

No sign of Clark avoiding a deer was detected on the recorder.

When results of Clark’s blood sample were returned, she appeared to have marijuana in her system. Ehmann’s complaint contends that the amount of the drug in her system made her incapable of operating the van safely. The plea, however, notes only that here was a small amount of marijuana in her system, and avoids stating whether that contributed to the crash. Instead, it cites her careless driving as the cause of Craner’s death.

“This was a very tragic case, and nothing we can do will bring Loretta back,” Ost-Prisco commented. “However we are satisfied that the defendant accepted responsibility for her criminal actions, and will not be able to harm anyone else in the foreseeable future.”